Few travel experiences can top sitting in a piazza, watching the world pass while sipping on a cappuccino or a glass of chianti or digging at a delicious dome of gelato.
I know, because I spent such a day on the Italian coast, returning to my table at the piazza several times to take in the play of life. I watched acrobats flip, jugglers toss, musicians play and crooners send their soft melodies to the far reaches of the square. The world was indeed a stage that day, just as it is every day at the piazza.
What made my experience highly unusual, however, was that my piazza was floating. No, I was not in Venice. I was on a ship, the Emerald Princess.
Set aside what you’re doing for a moment, and come with me. Together, we will board Holland America Line’s brand new Eurodam for a virtual cruise. I’ll give you a few minutes to pack. Let me know when you’re ready.
You’re lucky to be traveling with me, because I’ll make travel painless for you. We’ll whisk through airport security, breeze through baggage claim and make a quick transit to the ship, where, with an air befitting royalty, we’ll cross the threshold into this lovely vessel.
March 15, 2 p.m., Caribbean Sea — Clad in a purple swimsuit, broad-rimmed hat and polarized sunglasses, Raelyn Lucklow is enjoying yet another sunny day at sea. One of 700 passengers on Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Mariner, the Dana Point, California, resident appears totally at ease. But something is amiss. Instead of reaching for sunscreen or a tropical cocktail, Lucklow reaches for her laptop. “If I knew the ship didn’t have internet, I wouldn’t go,” says the design consultant for Preserved Treescapes International. “I can only take time off if I can continue to work through my computer. There’s no one who can take my place. There’s no one who does what I do. So if I’m down for a week it’s basically horrible.”
For years I’ve followed the career of Jerry Zape, a bar manager for Windstar Cruises who fulfilled a dream to give his wife and three children a better life with earnings he sent home from his job on a cruise ship.
What wasn’t reported in that story was that Jerry was one of three ship staff that I met in 1999 and wrote about in a story called “A Few Good Men.”
Whether by coincidence or luck, I recently ran into the “second” of the three good men, Bagus Gunawan, who was working in Tamarind, the Asian restaurant on Holland America Line’s Eurodam.
I asked Bagus if he had fulfilled his dream to return to Bali to open a restaurant and bed and breakfast. He had, but his story has a tragic turn. In 1999, Bagus returned home to begin the business he had dreamed about.
I remembered him too. I had talked with him about his family in the Philippines and about how he supported his wife and three children on the salary and tips he earned at sea. In his early 40s then, he had managed to pay off his home and even buy a small convenience store.
When I met Jerry five years later, life was treating him even better. He told me that two of his children had just finished college and that a third will graduate soon. How Jerry managed his family from afar is a remarkable story, but first let me tell you about Jerry.
Jerry started work with Holland America Line in 1987, five years into his marriage. He and his wife agonized over whether Jerry should go to sea, but they knew they could not make the life they wanted for their family on Filipino wages. “I could earn double on a ship what I could earn at home,” he told me.
In 1999, I talked with three Windstar Cruises’ staff members about their dreams and ambitions. Five years later, I caught up with two of those ship staff, Jerry Zape, who put his three kids through university, and Bagus Gunawan. Following is the original story from 1999.
For years I’ve followed the career of 
A familiar face greeted me as I boarded the Wind Surf on a recent sailing from Venice to Malta. Jerry Zape remembered me from 
